Why Netflix spent billions for WWE

By Adrian Ma,

Darian Woods, Corey Bridges, Kate Concannon

Published January 7, 2025 at 9:10 AM EST

Last night, after years on cable, WWE's flagship show, Monday Night Raw, made its debut on Netflix. It's another example of live sports programming making the move to streaming as more people abandon cable television.

Today on the show, we talk to a TV analyst about what Netflix's increasing investments in live sports means for the war between streamers and cable companies.

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Adrian Ma

Adrian Ma covers work, money and other "business-ish" for NPR's daily economics podcast The Indicator from Planet Money.

Darian Woods

Darian Woods is a reporter and producer for The Indicator from Planet Money. He blends economics, journalism, and an ear for audio to tell stories that explain the global economy. He's reported on the time the world got together and solved a climate crisis, vaccine intellectual property explained through cake baking, and how Kit Kat bars reveal hidden economic forces.

See stories by Darian Woods

Corey Bridges

Corey Bridges is an assistant producer at NPR's daily economics podcast, The Indicator from Planet Money. Bridges enjoys covering stories ranging from public policy to the economics of sports. At The Indicator, he has worked on stories about how certain environmental regulations can impede climate progress and others about how college athletes are taking advantage of their name, image and likeness.

Kate Concannon

Kate Concannon is the Supervising Senior Editor at The Indicator from Planet Money. She leads this small, collaborative team of hosts, reporters and producers in making sense of crucial, but often complex and confusing, economic news in just 10 minutes a day.